How Can I Measure Vibrations in My Apartment?

My apartment has tremors and vibrations that feel like a small earthquake. It comes and goes, and my landlord and I have no idea what it is. We’ve checked with other tenants with respect to fans, A/C’s, etc. We would like to measure the vibrations and feed it into a PC so that we try and get a better understanding of thigns. Any ideas on how to do this short of buying a seismograph? It wakes me up sometimes in the middle of the night as it shakes my bed, so I would like to fix this. And no we are not thinking of calling an Exorcist.
I agree that the goal is to find the source, and we think if we can track its frequency then this would help.

There are vibration sensors, some are MEMS, and some of these are not so expensive. Would need to find a way to connect to the pc.

The most practical approach is to pay a lot of attention when it happens. Keep a journal with details. Ask your neighbors if they noticed it, and what they were doing at the time. Pay attention to how it feels and sounds, how long it lasts, when it happens, whether it’s steady, whether it’s exactly the same each time, and so on. Show the journal to your neighbors and see if it helps them recognize what it is. A seismograph or data collection station isn’t going to work magic. Any results you collect would need to be interpreted, and you’d still need to localize it.

Island Queen
on
July 15, 2010
at
5:14 pm

There actually is tech equipment to do/measure such a thing, but believe me, it’s really expensive. You would need to hire someone who has the equipment and have them set it up and leave it running in your place. Start with asking a building structural engineer about how you would locate a specialist who can do this.

kcracer1
on
July 15, 2010
at
5:14 pm

A)what state do you live in?
B) is there a certain time of day, week , month this happens in? look for patterns.
C) a machine will not tell you the source only will confirm the vibrations.
d) what’s out side around your apartment… train tracks, bus stop, airport, highway?
E) Nieghbors play loud music, movies, have home theatre system? I can get mine to shake the windows lol

need more details please

sashakishore
on
July 15, 2010
at
5:14 pm

contact a geotechnical enginner in your area. they have equipment to monitor vibrations, for instance if there is new bridge construction near an existing developed area which would be sensitive to vibration, they could monitor the ground vibrations during pile driving and determine if it is within acceptable, non-impacting limits. i imagine the same equipment could be used in your situation. only problem is they charge hourly, so you should try to determine a regular pattern so you could have them come to the site at at time when the vibration will occur. hiring them on an hourly basis will certainly be cheaper than buying your own data acquisition equipment and figuring out how to use it. is there construction going on in your area, sometimes heavy rolling compactors have vibrations that can be felt in nearby buildings, particularly if you have light item on a table. good luck.